Inside The Times

Published: August 15, 2011

INTERNATIONAL

ATTACK IS LATEST TO JOLT AFGHAN PROVINCE

A group of suicide bombers blew their way into the governor's compound in Parwan Province in Afghanistan. In the three-hour firefight that followed, the attackers killed 22 people -- 6 of them police officers, the rest government staff members and civilian visitors. PAGE A4

CHINA CLOSES PLANT

Municipal leaders in a northeastern Chinese port city quickly announced plans to shut down a chemical plant after thousands of protesters confronted riot police officers and demanded that it be closed because of safety concerns, state news media reported. PAGE A6

ISRAEL WARNS NO QUICK FIXES

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tempered a promise to find ''concrete solutions'' to demonstrators' concerns with a warning that the global financial crisis precluded quick change. His remarks came a day after roughly 30,000 protesters gathered in the northern port city of Haifa, and thousands more gathered in smaller protests around the country. PAGE A9

NEPAL'S LEADER RESIGNS

Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal resigned, acknowledging that he had failed to advance a stagnant peace process or agree with the opposition on a new constitution, tasks he had promised to accomplish when he was elected to his post by a parliamentary vote in February. PAGE A10

A priest in Kansas City, Mo., was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of taking indecent photographs of young girls. Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has acknowledged that he knew of the existence of the photographs last December but did not turn them over to the police until May. A civil lawsuit filed last week claims that during those five months, the priest attended children's birthday parties and hosted a Easter egg hunt. PAGE A12

STATES DEFY EDUCATION LAW

With Montana and several other Western states rebelling against the requirement that 100 percent of American students be proficient in English and math by 2014, some education officials and experts see signs that years of federal dominance of public school accountability may be drawing to a close. PAGE A15

NEW YORK

LAYOFFS PROMPT WORRIES OF DOUBLE-DIP RECESSION

If the plodding national economy stumbles into another recession, New York -- plagued by high unemployment and the prospect of a rising tide of layoffs on Wall Street -- probably will take a tumble too. PAGE A17

OFFICER'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH

Authorities released conflicting accounts as to whether the boat of Patrick Luca, a New York City police officer had overturned. A spokesman for the Coast Guard maintained that the kayak had flipped over, but a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County Police Department said it had not. PAGE A16

BUSINESS

AS NETWORKS SPEED UP, DATA HITS A WALL

The newest smartphones are intended to run on speedy 4G networks that allow people to effortlessly stream music, watch Netflix movies and tune in live to a Mets game, wherever they are. But cellphone plans that let people gobble up data as if they were at an all-you-can eat buffet are disappearing. PAGE B1

SETBACKS THREATEN EUROPE

Data released on Friday leaves little doubt that the European economy is losing momentum before most countries have even recovered to the level of output they had in 2008, when the recession hit. But the larger question is whether an increasingly bitter brew of flagging output and a sovereign debt crisis -- along with the market downturn -- will lead businesses to cut jobs and investment. PAGE B1

ARTS

REALITY SHOW RICOCHETS THROUGH BRIGHTON BEACH

The day after the premiere of ''Russian Dolls,'' the reality series chronicling the life styles of the rich and immigrated in Brighton Beach, nobody in that seaside Brooklyn neighborhood was keeping mum. The Lifetime show was the talk of the neighborhood. PAGE C1

SPORTS

METS' LOSING STREAK GROWS TO FIVE

The Mets jabbed and counterpunched but lacked a strong enough blow to knock down the Diamondbacks, who won, 5-3, to send the Mets to their fifth straight loss. They start a three-game series in San Diego on Monday. PAGE D3

RAIN GIVES YANKS BREATHER

The Yankees ended a stretch of eight games in nine days against some of the American League's top teams by hanging around the clubhouse and packing for this week's seven-game trip after their meeting with the Tampa Bay Rays was postponed. PAGE D3